Health Reform Update - July 21st

In the Health Reform Update for the past week, two federal appeals court split on whether the Affordable Care Act (ACA) allows premium subsidies to be offered to consumers in federally-facilitated Marketplaces, while a lower court dismisses a U.S. Senator’s effort to block ACA subsidies for members of Congress and their staff.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) plans to step-up their verification of consumer data claiming eligibility for the ACA subsidies and/or Marketplace coverage after Government Accountability Office (GAO) auditors qualified in 11 of 12 attempts using fake accounts.

New CMS data shows that insurers are gradually adjusting to the ACA limits on profit and overhead. However, consumers will still receive more than $332 million in rebates by August 1st for those that failed to comply, with Florida insurers owing nearly 13 percent of this total.

You can find the full Health Reform Update here and join the PSI Patient Coalition here.